This year’s Sounds of Saugatuck event Saturday was full of music and food. For one restaurant, however, a slight snag shifted the evening’s course.

Two restaurants were closed that evening, said Jaden Pierce, general manager for Restaurant Toulouse, including one owned by the owners of Toulouse. That meant Toulouse had many more customers than they had anticipated. Although there was another restaurant set to have music during that time-slot, it was not within walking distance from Toulouse.

“We’re the only ones playing music from 6-9. We weren’t anticipating being this busy. We ran out of menus,” Pierce said.

The goal for restaurants is to forecast sales from the past few years for the upcoming event in order to predict food and staff needs. There is no way to account for “flukes” in the system, however.

“(Past Sounds of Saugatuck accounts) ran one-third what we did for our total sales for that night. They've never been that high,” said Pierce.

The restaurant staff all stepped up to serve the guests promptly, but according to Pierce, the chef gets a gold star.

“We were all blind-sided. There was one person cooking for the entire restaurant. He was able to do a $3,000 night in like three hours or two-and-a-half hours,” Pierce said.

The Knick Nacks, a group from Grand Haven, was the band performing at Toulouse that evening. They also stepped up to make the wait more enjoyable for customers.

“They didn’t take a break,” Pierce said, “They saw the crowd was really receptive and was enjoying the music.”

Sounds of Saugatuck brought in a few more customers than normal for Zing: Eat/Drink as well, said owner Jim Petzing.

“I would say we got three dinner tables because of Sounds of Saugatuck and a lot of bar crowd,” Petzing said.

The night went as planned at other Sounds of Saugatuck locations. Lew Russ, a Calypso/Reggae/Blues musician played from 3-6 p.m. to first-time listeners and old fans.

Russ began playing music about 40 years ago with guitar and has been playing ever since.

“This is where I first started 24 years ago,” Russ said, “Right here in Saugatuck.”

Russ interacted with the crowd and found time on his break to chat with people who had been listening to his music for years.

For most of the restaurants, Sounds of Saugatuck is a great way to connect with the community and provide entertainment and good food.